Best Bars in America: Esquire's Annual List

Our annual celebration is once again guided by Esquire's favorite drinking partner and the world's foremost cocktail historian, David Wondrich. It's a tricky time for bars: are they places to escape reality, or are they places to marvel at how a drink gets made? As well as adding to our ever-growing list, we assess the state of things: the bars, the bartenders, the drinkers. Drinking itself. — Esquire Editors

Noble Experiment

San Diego

You're having: A Fashionably Late

Should you find yourself in San Diego, as one does from time to time, you could do far worse for dinner than the chefy comfort food at Neighborhood. As you're working your way through your pasilla steak frites or smoked porter-braised short ribs, you might notice that small knots of people are going into a little hallway and not coming out. If you get curious and wander over, all you'll find is a storage area with a wall of beer kegs and not much else. Yet somewhere in there lies the entrance to Noble Experiment. Sure, secret entrances are a bit corny these days, but the bar itself is a square deal. You'll no longer feel like you're in San Diego, but it'll be there when you come out.